Hey Rosetta! have officially wrapped up their 12-year run at the heart of the indie music scene.
The band announced they would embark on an indefinite hiatus from touring and making music as a group on Oct. 13. They said their goodbyes with three sold-out shows at Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Centre, and two St. John’s shows as part of their annual Christmas celebration.
For both stints, the band had to move their shows to larger venues due to overwhelming fan support.
Tim Baker’s thoughtful, inventive lyrics and unique vocals, the band’s string and brass arrangements wrapped around distorted guitars and a folk-rocking core made Hey Rosetta! an undeniable force of beauty.
The band expressed that the grind of touring and traveling the continent had unsurprisingly worn down its members.
“It’s been a dizzying ride. Dizzying like busy, but also more recently, dizzying like when the sand you’re standing on starts shifting and you’re not sure how to stand and act normal,” said Hey Rosetta! via social media.
The band continues: “And despite all the movement and light and love there is on the road, or perhaps because of it, you begin to sort of exist beyond any sense of reality or responsibility — to family, to friends, to self, to security, to art, to anything — and the pressures build up and pull at you and it’s kind of a miracle that seven people can stay together and work single-mindedly towards one end for so long really, even something as beautiful and privileged and cool as making music.”
Stand By Me
Although the indie band is hanging up their Hey Rosetta! gloves, it’s evident from their joint statement, and their cover of Ben E King’s “Stand By Me,” that the individual members will still be around making music. Asking fans to stay with them through their future musical and artistic endeavors.
“It’s about saying goodbye, but not by looking at what is lost, but by embracing what’s coming at you. So it’s our hope… that you’ll come with us as we branch out and continue to do our things as individuals and that you’ll stand by us ’til we’re all back together again.”
And with that the band has given fans a lesson on good-byes.
Going forward lead singer Tim Baker has a solo record due for 2018; drummer Phil Maloney is opening a restaurant in downtown St. John’s, Newfoundland; cellist Romesh Thavanathan (tinyemporer, tinykingdomstudios) will continue producing, teaching, and making his own music; violinist Kinley Dowling will continue a solo career, as well as her activist work; Mara Pellerin has another project called Wunderstrads; and Josh Ward (bass, backing vocals) and Adam Hogan (lead guitar) will continue playing, working, and teaching in St. John’s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCcYBZ4zfes
